We are baby boomers privileged to enjoy our dream of early retirement while traveling full-time. We recently traded our 2005 37' Allegro Bay for a 2015 DRV Tradition fifth wheel being towed by a 2015 Silverado 3500HD Duramax dually. We are in our ninth year of being on the road. We invite you to join us as we explore this amazing country. and navigate the full-time RV lifestyle. Our heartfelt thanks to our soldiers and their families for their sacrifices to ensure our freedom so that we can pursue our dream.

July 28, 2010

Wyoming Territorial Prison

The Wyoming Territorial Prison is located in Laramie, WY, which is about an hour back toward the west from where we were staying in Cheyenne. Because we were unable to find a campground we liked in the Laramie area, we opted to make it a day trip from Cheyenne.

The Wyoming Territorial Prison was built in 1872. It became the Wyoming State Penitentiary when Wyoming became a state in 1890, and it operated until the summer of 1903 when inmates were transferred to a new facility in Rawlins, WY. Throughout its 30 years, the facility held over 1,000 men and at least 12 women prisoners.

After the prison closed, the University of Wyoming took over the land and operated it as an experimental stock farm until 1987. In 1989, a group of citizens began restoration of the old prison. It was opened as a historic site in 1991, and is operated under Wyoming State Parks.

The self-guided tour starts with the restored warden's house, which was built in 1875 using prison labor and stone quarried in the surrounding area.

The warden originally shared his house with the prison guards, who lived in the section of the house to the right. Notice the separate door on the right. In 1889, the prison was expanded, and the guards were moved to new quarters inside the prison building. The warden's house is restored and furnished to reflect the period of 1890 after the guards moved out.

The original prison is the section to the far right in the photo below. The center section with the gable roof and the section to the left were added in 1889.

Outside the main entrance, Paul couldn't resist trying out the prison wagon.

Inside the main entrance are the warden's office and the processing room where the new prisoners had their heads shaved, their pictures taken, and they received their prison uniforms.

The next photo shows the new prison kitchen in the center section of the building. Trustees did all the cooking for their fellow inmates and for the guards. The food was transported to the dining hall on the second floor by a dumbwaiter.

Each wing of the prison has 42 cells on three levels. The photo below shows the north (old) cell block from one of the third floor watchtowers. There was a watchtower on each side, and from the watchtowers the guards could keep their eye on the entire cell block.

The cells are 6' x 6' x 8' and were sparsely furnished. A bathroom cell with a toilet, washbasin and bathtub was located on each level.

The cells in the south (new) cell block were only 5' x 5' x 8'. They were smaller to make room in this wing for the prison laundry on the first floor and the infirmary on the second floor.

The main "claim to fame" of the Wyoming Territorial Prison is Butch Cassidy was once incarcerated there. Butch Cassidy was born Robert Leroy Parker to a Mormon family in Utah. As a teenager, he fell in with a cattle rustler by the name of Mike Cassidy. Parker eventually changed his name to George Cassidy to avoid bringing shame to his family. He earned the nickname "Butch" while working in a butcher shop in Lander, WY. Butch Cassidy is shown in the photo below.

Butch was an inmate at the Wyoming Territorial Prison for 18 months from 1894 to 1896. Although he lived a life of crime as a cattle rustler, bank robber and train robber, it was the only time he spent in jail.

Butch Cassidy's story was romanticized by the 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid starring Paul Newman as Butch and Robert Redford as his partner Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid). Butch and Sundance's gang was the Wild Bunch. Some of the gang members are shown in the 1901 photo below. Shown are (seated) Harry Longabaugh (The Sundance
Kid), Ben Kilpatrick (The Tall
Texan), Robert Leroy Parker (Butch
Cassidy), (standing) Will Carver and Harry Logan (Kid Curry).

Prisoners were employed in various tasks as part of their rehabilitation. Among other things, they did leather work, baking, candle making, shoe repair and taxidermy. In 1892, inmates began construction of the broom factory behind the prison building. Today, volunteers continue to demonstrate how the equipment was used to make brooms. The brooms are sold in the gift shop.

Behind the broom factory are several historic buildings that have been relocated from other places in Wyoming including a church, a school house and a cabin. The next photo shows Margery in front of the cabin.

There is also a reconstructed frontier town that is staffed by volunteers. The buildings were all closed when we were there, and they are probably only open on weekends and for special school field trips.

The 1910 horse barn that was built for the University of Wyoming experimental stock farm that occupied the grounds after the prison was closed has been remodeled and is used for various rotating exhibits. They were featuring a printing exhibit. They were also playing a CD of the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

As we left the prison, the motorcycle with the cool little trailer we saw in the parking when we arrived was still there. The trunk of the car opens so it can be used as a utility trailer.

On our way back to the motor home, we stopped at Tree Rock. It is located in the median of I-80, and there are pull-offs from both directions where you can stop. The tree, which is a limber pine, is growing out of a crack in the pink granite. Although the age of the tree is unknown, we know it was there when the transcontinental railroad was built because track crews diverted the track slightly to pass by the tree. Early trains used to stop so crews could give the tree drink from their water buckets.

In 1901, the railroad was relocated to the south, and the abandoned roadbed became a wagon road. Later, Lincoln Highway was built along the wagon road, and I-80 was built in the 1960s. Just think, the Lincoln Highway (Route 30) that we often traveled when we lived in Pittsburgh extends all the way out here.

We enjoyed our week in Cheyenne; but with with Cheyenne Frontier Days approaching, we knew it was time for us to be on our way. The campground was booked up so we couldn't have extended our stay even if we had wanted to. From Cheyenne, we headed northeast.

July 26, 2010

Cheyenne, WY, Part III: Botanic Gardens, Frontier Days Museum and Wyoming State Museum

For our next sightseeing outing we headed to the northern part of the city to Lion Park and Frontier Park that we saw the day before on our trolley tour. We went to the botanic gardens first while it was morning and still somewhat cool.

Cheyenne Botanic Gardens isn't a huge garden, but it's free, and it's nicely done. In addition to numerous landscape garden areas, it also has a solar greenhouse, two community gardens and a children's garden.

The photo below shows Margery by a bridge just inside the entrance to the garden.

The next photo shows Paul in the cottage garden on the other side of the bridge.

We both like delphiniums, and they were blooming beautifully when we were there.

We enjoyed exploring the different areas of the garden and the many flowers in bloom.

We spent about an hour strolling around, and we exited through the rose garden.

Across the road from the Cheyenne Botanic Garden is Frontier Park where the rodeo and many of the other activities for Cheyenne Frontier Days are held. Frontier Park is also the location of the Frontier Days Old West Museum. In fact, you can easily walk there from the garden.

The Old West Museum, which was included in our combo ticket for the trolley tour, has a lot of pioneer history. A sculpture outside depicts a pioneer woman looking over her shoulder. the title of the work is "No Turning Back."

The next photo shows just a few of the 150 horse-drawn vehicles at the museum. It is one of the largest collections in the world. Many of them are used in various parades in and around Cheyenne, including Cheyenne Frontier Days.

The museum also has a lot of history about Cheyenne Frontier Days and about the rodeo. Of course, what would a rodeo be without championship buckles.

The next photo shows Paul posing by part of the bull-riding display.

Margery enjoyed reading about Miss Frontier for this year's event.

The museum has an excellent movie about some of the past rodeo champions. One young champion by the name of Lane Frost was killed by a bull in 1989. Outside the museum is a sculpture created in his honor.

We'll have a little more about Cheyenne Frontier Days and the rodeo in our next post.

Also outside was one of the "Cheyenne Big Boots." These 8-foot tall boots are decorated by local artists and are located all over the city to promote Cheyenne's western heritage.

From the Frontier Days Old West Museum we headed back downtown to the Wyoming State Museum Wyoming State Museum since it was only early afternoon. Unfortunately, the museum doesn't allow any photography at all inside, so all we can show you is the outside.

The free museum is quite well done with excellent, well-marked exhibits detailing the history of Wyoming. There are displays of pre-historic times with a couple of dinosaurs as well as natural history displays of present-day wildlife. There are displays showing the history of Native Americans, the railroad, and pioneers. The museum follows Wyoming history all the way to present day.

Although we were not planning to stay for Cheyenne Frontier Days, we have a little preview of the event in our next post.

July 25, 2010

At the end of our trolley tour of Cheyenne, we were right outside the Cheyenne Depot Museum which was included in our combo pass, so we went inside to have a look around.

The Cheyenne Depot was built in 1886-1887 by the Union Pacific Railroad. Although the depot wasn't designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson, it is built in Richardsonian Romanesque style. Richardson was a prominent architect of the 1800s who designed (among other things) the Allegheny County Courthouse and jail in our old hometown of Pittsburgh. Sandstone quarried near Fort Collins, CO, was hauled in by rail for the construction of the depot. The building and the plaza outside were renovated in 2001-2002. In addition to the museum, the building houses several businesses and a restaurant.

As expected, the museum follows the history of Cheyenne as related to the railroad. There are a few railroad artifacts, but the history is primarily told through old photographs. In the photo below, Paul is pointing to the future location of the depot on a bird's eye view of Cheyenne from 1870.

As we learned on our trolley tour earlier, the town was laid out in 1867 as the trans-continental railroad approached from the east. We learned about the transcontinental railroad several days ago when we visited Promontory Summit north of Salt Lake City, the legislation to authorize the transcontinental railroad was passed in 1862. We thought it was a little odd such a large endeavor would be undertaken during the Civil War. Here in Cheyenne, we found out the reason. The southern states objected to building the railroad because they felt the northern states would receive the major benefit, especially if a northern route were used. After the southern states seceded from the Union, the northern states were in control of Congress, and it was easy to get the railroad approved.

The next photo shows a view of Cheyenne similar to the one above, except this one is from 1900. By that time, the city had grown significantly. Old wooden buildings, which had been destroyed by fire, were replaced with buildings of brick and stone.

From the Depot Museum, we drove a short distance up Capitol Avenue to the Wyoming State Capitol. The building is open for self-guided tours on weekdays. Guided tours are available by appointment.

Out front there is a statue of Esther Hobart Morris who was the first female Justice of the Peace, and who was active in the women's suffrage movement.

Wyoming was admitted to statehood in 1890. The capitol building was started in 1886 and completed in 1887 while Wyoming was still a territory. The building is constructed of sandstone, the first two courses of which were quarried near Fort Collins, CO. The remainder of the sandstone came from Rawlins, WY.

Inside, we were struck by how much warmer the building appeared compared the the Utah State Capitol. The Utah Capitol was much larger and the inside was lined with polished, gray marble whereas the Wyoming Capitol is painted warm colors and the interior makes extensive use of wood for stairs, doors and trim. The photo below of the inside of the dome shows some of the warm lighting and colors of the Wyoming Capitol.

Even the large, bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln had a warm, personal feel to it.

On our self-guided tour, we also saw the chamber for the House of Representatives...

The Wyoming Supreme Court meets in a separate building a few blocks away form the capitol.

Since we were on a state government theme and since the Historic Governor's Mansion was located only a short distance from the capitol, we decided to also take a look at that while we were downtown. A new Governor's Mansion was completed in 1976 several blocks to the northwest of the Historic Governor's Mansion. The Historic Governor's Mansion is now a free museum operated by the Wyoming State Park system.

The brick and sandstone mansion was built in 1904 in the colonial revival style. It was considered to be very modern back in the day with central plumbing, hot water heat and combined gas and electric lighting. The mansion underwent extensive restoration from 2004 to 2005. Rooms are decorated and furnished in various periods from 1905 through the 1960s.

Nineteen governors and their families called the mansion their home over its 71-year history. While each governor did a certain amount of decorating to suit his own family's tastes and needs, the mansion underwent extensive remodeling in 1937. Several of the rooms, including the kitchen shown in the photo below, reflect that 1937 vintage today.

The next photo shows the den, which was redecorated in the 1950s. Doesn't it look like a typical "man cave?"

After our visit to the Governor's Mansion we called it a day and headed back to the motor home. There are still lots of things to do in and around Cheyenne, and we'll tell you about some of them in our next post.

As we mentioned in our last post, several of the pioneer trails followed the wide North Platte River Valley because the valley is relatively level and the river provided a good source for the pioneers and their animals. Therefore, there are numerous historic sites relating to the pioneer trails in this area of western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. One of the most important locations was Fort Laramie in western Wyoming.

Gering, NE is located near the Wyoming-Nebraska Border, so it was a drive of about an hour to the northwest back into Wyoming to Fort Laramie. Fort Laramie was named for the Laramie River, which flows into the North Platte River adjacent to the fort. The Laramie River in turn was named for Jacques La Ramee who was a French-Canadian fur trapper who lived in the area in the 1820s. Jaques La Ramee was killed by Indians. The town of Laramie, WY, which is located 80 miles to the southwest of Fort Laramie, also gets its name from the same river.

We
started our tour of Fort Laramie NHS with a stop in the visitor center,
which was built in 1884 as the storehouse for the post commissary. We
viewed a 15 or 20-minute movie about the history of the fort, and we
checked out the displays like the one of cavalry uniforms in the photo
below.

Paul then got into the act by trying on a cap typically used by the military in the late 1800s called a kepi.

Friction between early mountain men and the Indians was rare. The mountain men traded with the Indians and frequently took Indian wives which helped establish themselves in the Indian communities. When the big fur trading corporations arrived, there was more competition for trading and for furs. Fort William, which was a wooden stockade fort, was established at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers by a trading company in 1834 in that spirit of competition.

By the late 1830s, the mountain men had opened numerous trails through the area, and emigrants began following those trails to seek their fortunes in the west. Fort John was an adobe fort that replaced Fort William in 1841. Fort John was built as a trading post to supply the pioneers because, as we learned a short while ago at Fort Bridger, the fur trade was declining by the 1840s.

By the late 1840s, the trickle of emigrants had become a flood, especially after the discovery of gold in California 1848. In 1849, the U. S. Government bought Fort John and established a military post there as a place for them to restock supplies. Most wagon trains departed from Independence, MO, or Council Bluffs, IA. Fort Laramie was about 1/3 of the way to Oregon, so the pioneers would have needed supplies by the time they got that far.

In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed making it possible to cross the plains in a week or two instead of 5 or 6 months. As use of the pioneer trails decreased, the pioneers passing through were replaced by homesteaders who were looking to stay. The settlers raised the ire of the Indians much more than the pioneers, and the military was called on to protect the settlers. Expansion of the western forts took place in the 1870s and 1880s. Eventually, Fort Laramie became the center of operations of all the military forts in the Northern Plains.

Although the two
previous forts at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers were officially called Fort William and Fort John, they
were both commonly called fort Laramie.
The new military post was officially named Fort Laramie. Most of what remains at Fort Laramie National Historic Site today is from the military post.

From the visitor center we began our tour of the fort at the restored cavalry barracks built in 1874.

Downstairs there were supply rooms, a tack room, a kitchen and a mess hall. Sleeping quarters were upstairs.

We were impressed by the attention to detail in the displays in the barracks. The sleeping quarters are complete with rifles stacked near the door, beds that are made, uniforms and clothing hanging on the hooks and names above the beds. There was even a game of checkers in progress on one of the tables.

On the grounds
of the fort are numerous restored buildings. There are also standing ruins of other buildings that have been
stabilized to help preserve them, and there are remnants of foundations of buildings. On the opposite side of the visitor center from the cavalry barracks were two bakeries. The one on the left in the photo below is the restored 1876 bakery, and on the right are the standing ruins of the newer, 1883 bakery.

In addition to the attention to detail in the displays throughout the fort, we were equally impressed by the knowledge of the interpreters at various locations. The young man in the bakery explained how much work it was to keep the soldiers supplied with bread. The baker and his assistant started early in the morning by building fires in the two ovens. After measuring out and mixing the ingredients in a large trough, the dough was kneaded by hand. By the time the dough had risen, the fires had usually burned down to hot coals to provide even heat for the baking.

Unfortunately, after all that work the soldiers didn't get to enjoy the freshly-baked bread. The post surgeon was convinced the yeast in the bread was still alive. In order to avoid intestinal problems for the troops, the bakers were under orders to store the bread for 24 hours before serving it, so all the soldiers got was day-old bread. The next photo shows how bread would have been stacked on cooling shelves.

They still make small batches of bread to the original recipe today in the wood-fired oven to give out as samples. The bread is very dense and pretty dry. It needed butter.

Next to the bakery was a garden plot. Two ladies in 19th century costumes were tending the garden.

We probably spent at least 20 or 30 minutes chatting with the lady in the photo above. She was playing the role of a laundress. The Army recruited single women and widows to do laundry for the soldiers. The women received $20 a month, which was more pay than a sargent would have gotten, plus she would have received food, housing and medical care. The women were often given garden plots for their personal use.

Although the women weren't in the Army, they were subject to many of the same rules as the soldiers such as having to have permission to date and to marry. The period of commitment was for 5 years after which they could go their own way or sign up again with a recommendation from the commanding officer.

Most of the buildings at the fort were laid out around the parade grounds which were used for drills and ceremonies. On the eastern side of the parade grounds there were foundations of infantry barracks where there was an archeological dig going on.

At the southern end of the parade grounds was a house built in 1870 originally as the commanding officer's quarters. The house ended up being divided into a duplex for higher-ranking officers who were married.

As we rounded the corner to head up the western side of the parade grounds, we passed the ruins of housing for additional quarters for married officers. There was also a drinking fountain that we thought was cute. It had steps for the kids and a lower faucet and bowl for puppies.

On the western side of the parade grounds are the quarters built in 1849 for unmarried officers. This building is the oldest surviving military building in Wyoming. The building got the nickname "Old Bedlam" from the hospital in London that was the first institution to specialize in mental illness. The nickname apparently came from the noises emitted from the quarters, especially during parties.

The next photo shows one of the rooms in "Old Bedlam." The attention to detail with half-empty bottles and cards on the table and a towel draped over the back of a chair makes the room look lived in. You feel like one of the officers could walk through the door at any minute.

By 1890, most of the Indians were on reservations. Fort Laramie, like Fort Bridger that we saw a while back, was decommissioned and abandoned.

We were really impressed with Fort Laramie. It was well worth the drive to see it. There is another pioneer landmark closer to the campground we wanted to see. We'll tell you about it in our next post.

July 22, 2010

Cheyenne, WY, Part I: City Tour

We left Fort Bridger and drove east on I-80 toward Cheyenne, WY. At a driving time of almost 6 hours from Fort Bridger to Cheyenne, it was a little farther that we like to drive the motor home in one shot. Therefore, we made a one-night stop at Western Hills Campground in Rawlins, WY.

Western Hills Campground is all gravel. There are full hookups with 30/50 amp electric and cable, although electric only and no-hookup sites are also available. It looked like all the RV sites were pull-throughs. The site spacing isn't bad, although we had to park pretty far toward the door side in order to allow space for our driver's-side slides to clear the utility pedestal. Fortunately, we didn't have anyone on either side of us.

The photo below is a view down the one of the rows.

Rawlins was even more windy than Fort Bridger. As the campground name implies, it's on a hill, which makes the wind worse. Like Fort Bridger, the wind thankfully died down as it got dark; but since the Western Hills is fairly close to the interstate, that just meant you could hear the traffic instead of the wind.

The campground is also close to railroad tracks. Who knew so many trains ran at night? Much of the original route of the first transcontinental railroad parallels a good bit of Interstate 80, and more tracks criss-cross the plains, so we're going to be hearing trains much of the time as we continue on our way east.

We got up the next morning and got an early start before the wind picked up. We had a drive of a little under three hours to Cheyenne. Fortunately, when the wind did start to blow, it was a tail wind rather than a head wind or cross wind. Cross winds make driving a high-profile vehicle like a motor home a real challenge.

Speaking of wind, it's bad enough in summer, but it must get awful in Wyoming in winter. All through the state we passed miles and miles and miles of snow fence lining the interstate. And this was not the 4-foot fence of wooden slats wired together like we see back east either. This was industrial-grade snow fence that was 8 or 10 feet high. Since there are so few real trees in this part of the state, Paul started calling the snow fence the Wyoming state tree.

In Cheyenne, we stayed at A. B. Camping and RV Park. A. B. Camping has mostly full hookup sites, but they also have back-in sites with electric only along the sides. The full hookups are pull-throughs. Most have 30/50 amp electric, but some have 30 amp only. There is free Wi-Fi, and the full hookup sites have cable. The campground is fairly quiet, but there are some very distant train whistles. As we said, the tracks are everywhere in this part of the country.

The roads and sites are gravel, and there is a little grass between the sites. The sites are a little narrow, but at least the pull-throughs are long enough to leave your tow or towed vehicle hooked up if you're only staying one night. The photo below shows our site at A. B. Camping.

And the next photo is a view down the row behind our site.

Although it was breezy when we got to Cheyenne, we're also happy to report it wasn't nearly as windy as Fort Bridger or Rawlins. A couple of days later, the temperature got up to the 90s, and it was downright sultry with hardly any breeze at all.

A. B. Camping has a barbecue restaurant right on site. It is open from 4:30 PM until 8:00 and serves pulled pork, brisket and ribs. There are sandwiches, dinner plates and smoked meat available by the half pound or pound. You can eat in, take out, or they will deliver to your site. We could smell the wood smoke when we checked in, so we thought it would be a good idea to give the barbecue a try.

We decided to get one dinner plate of pulled pork and one of brisket and to share the meats so we could try them both. The plates include two sides and a roll. They also have homemade pies for dessert, but they were already sold out by the time we got there at about 5:30.

We both liked the brisket even though it was chopped rather than sliced. It had enough moisture and smoky flavor to stand on its own without even having to add barbecue sauce. That was a real plus for Paul because he wasn't too crazy about their sauce, although Margery liked it. Paul thought the sauce had too much cumin. The dinner plates were $7.75 each. Overall, everything was pretty good for the price. It was also nice for Margery not to have to cook on a travel day.

On the day after we arrived, we started out our visit to Cheyenne with a city tour aboard a motorized trolley.

We frequently take a guided tour like this because we think it's a good way to find out where things are located and to get an overview of the history before we start sightseeing on our own.

The cost was reasonable at $10 for a 90-minute, narrated tour with off-on privileges at any of about 6 stops. They had an upgraded pass that included a admission to three museums for only $5 more. The three museums had admission regular fees of $4, $5, and $7, so even if you just wanted to do any two of them the combo pass was a good deal. The only drawback is the combo pass is only good for two days, so you have a limited time to get to the museums. We knew we wanted to see at least two of the museums, so we opted for the combo.

We got there in time for the first trolley tour of the day at 10:00 AM so we'd have time to do some sightseeing afterward. The tour starts outside the Cheyenne Depot, which is the old Union Pacific train station. The driver spent the first 10 minutes or so before we even left the stop talking about the early history of Cheyenne.

Our tour guide was excellent. He started coming to Cheyenne when he was 12 years old and settled there as an adult. His careers included being a ranch hand, a state trooper, and retired as a range detective. Two young granddaughters were with him to 'babysit' him. :-) They were darling, so well-behaved and very helped their grandpap by 'managing' the hand fans made available to passengers. Everyone gasped when our guide told us he had 32 grandchildren followed by a chuckle when he explained that we now know what Wyomingites do with cold winters and bad roads. Temps can reach 60 degrees below 0.

The town was first laid out in 1867 by General Grenville Dodge and his survey crew in what was then Dakota Territory. Cheyenne was located near the spot where the eastern leg of the transcontinental railroad being built by the Union Pacific Railroad would cross Crow Creek. The town was named for the Cheyenne tribe of Plains Indians. By the time the first track reached Cheyenne in November, 1867, over 4,000 people had already migrated to the town.

The population declined as track crews continued to move west, but after completion of the railroad, the town once again began to grow. One thing that helped the town grow was the fact the open range was being fenced in the late 1800s, and annual cattle drives became a thing of the past. Instead, ranchers took their cattle to stockyards in places like Cheyenne and shipped then to market on trains.

The tour wound around the downtown streets and past many landmarks including the old Governor's mansion, the Wyoming State Capitol, and several museums. We'll have more about some of the major sites we saw on the tour in upcoming posts because we stopped at several places later for a more detailed visit.

The tour also went through some of the city neighborhoods. One of the more interesting neighborhoods is known as the Rainsford District. Charles D. Rainsford was an architect from back east who came west in the 1870s to become a rancher. After he got to Cheyenne, many of his friends began inviting him to design their homes.

Rainsford designed Victorian-style houses, many of which had roofs with numerous gables and turrets. Another favorite design feature of his was fish-scale shakes used as siding. The fish scales can be seen on the bay windows.

The house in the next photo is called the pencil house. The bottom of the turret has a black tip, which is the pencil point. The turret itself is the shaft of a stubby pencil, and the roof is the eraser.

Today, the Rainsford houses are very popular and command high prices. Most of the Rainsford houses are on the Register of Historic Places, and there is a stipulation that owners cannot change the exterior home in any way and must maintain the color schemes of the home.

The next photo shows Rainsford's personal home. He was only 5' 2" tall, and he designed his house to suit his stature. Notice how low the porch is in comparison to the trash cans sitting beside it. The windows and doors are also lower than normal. It's hard to tell from the photo how low it was, but in person it almost looked like an oversize playhouse.

The trolley tour also went to the northern part of the city to Lions Park which is the location of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Adjacent to Lions Park is Frontier Park, which is the location of Frontier Days Old West Museum and the location of many of the activities for the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days. We'll have more about the gardens and the museum in an upcoming post.

Cheyenne Frontier Days is a huge event that has been going on since 1897. There are four parades in the downtown area during the week-long event. There are also nightly concerts with big-name artists. Frontier Park has specially-built booths that have an old-west appearance. During Frontier Days, craft and western wear vendors sell their products in the booths.

The main attraction of Pioneer Days is a huge rodeo with up to 2,500 entrants. There are events every day that range from barrel racing to bull riding. The rodeo finals, called the "Daddy of 'em All," take place on the final Sunday.

The rodeo arena is the largest in the world with stands that seat 66,000. The arena itself is reportedly big enough to hold the RMS Titanic with 16 feet to spare on all sides. We could see the enormous stands on our tour. We'll have more about Cheyenne Frontier Days and the rodeo in an upcoming post.

Cheyenne Frontier Days are held the last full week of July, and the event draws visitors from all over. Although Frontier Days sound exciting, we scheduled our departure to be out of Cheyenne before the event started to avoid the crowds.

Back at the depot at the end of the tour, we found out there were also shorter, horse-drawn wagon tours.

We liked the sign on the back of the wagon.

After the trolley tour we went back to some of the places we passed on the tour for a closer look. Stay tuned, and we'll tell you all about them.